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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Vendscreen Inc., inventor of the Vendscreen™ smart device for new and existing vending machines, announces the acquisition and intellectual property of CTO Services, LLC and its principal Glenn Butler, who joins Vendscreen, Inc. as co-founder and chief technology officer.

Read the full story here on http://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/news/10524438/vending-technology-veteran-glenn-butler-joins-vendscreen-inc-jim-brinton-invests-in-vendscreen

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Grayscale has unveiled its new Cdock for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Designed for use with the myriad of clock apps available, the Cdock is an iPhone clock dock, offering a 1.25-inch thick walnut housing, a six-foot USB charging cable, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device, and a front faceplate made from black or white resin, brushed aluminum, or walnut. Pricing for the Cdock varies from $55 to $70; it is available for pre-order now.

Grayscale has unveiled its new Cdock for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Designed for use with the myriad of clock apps available, the Cdock is an iPhone clock dock, offering a 1.25-inch thick walnut housing, a six-foot USB charging cable, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device, and a front faceplate made from black or white resin, brushed aluminum, or walnut. Pricing for the Cdock varies from $55 to $70; it is available for pre-order now.

Grayscale has unveiled its new Cdock for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Designed for use with the myriad of clock apps available, the Cdock is an iPhone clock dock, offering a 1.25-inch thick walnut housing, a six-foot USB charging cable, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device, and a front faceplate made from black or white resin, brushed aluminum, or walnut. Pricing for the Cdock varies from $55 to $70; it is available for pre-order now.

Grayscale has unveiled its new Cdock for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Designed for use with the myriad of clock apps available, the Cdock is an iPhone clock dock, offering a 1.25-inch thick walnut housing, a six-foot USB charging cable, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device, and a front faceplate made from black or white resin, brushed aluminum, or walnut. Pricing for the Cdock varies from $55 to $70; it is available for pre-order now.

Grayscale has unveiled its new Cdock for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Designed for use with the myriad of clock apps available, the Cdock is an iPhone clock dock, offering a 1.25-inch thick walnut housing, a six-foot USB charging cable, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device, and a front faceplate made from black or white resin, brushed aluminum, or walnut. Pricing for the Cdock varies from $55 to $70; it is available for pre-order now.

This sleek docking device has a retro style, with classic clock legs. cDock has a 1.25-inch solid walnut body, an opening in the front for full access to the docked device in landscape mode and a front faceplate made from glossy black or white resin, brushed aluminium, or walnut.

The makers of the cdock are describing it as “a docking station, a retro clock, a flat screen TV, a stand, home decor, and a statement”, and a statement they are making. The pieces with the walnut are stunning and would look phenomenal on the nightstand of a mid century bedroom suite. These were created in Portland, Oregon by a team of designers with graphic design backgrounds and they say they will work on both the iphone 4 and 4s with possibly the iPad in the future. Looks like orders are pretty limited, and these things are awesome, so might want to jump on it if you want one. Keep Reading....

The stylish Cdock™ is the perfect gift to give the tech lover in your life. The Cdock was created with the intention of solving the overnight drained battery blues (functional) and designed to enhance the already beautiful Apple iPhone aesthetic (cool). Keep reading....

To celebrate the launch of their high quality coffee, Safeway brings free coffee break to PDX

For those who want to enjoy the fresh-roast taste of their favorite, local coffee shop without leaving home, Safeway Select™ just released four new coffees with roast profiles similar to the most popular artisan coffee brands. Safeway is bringing a free coffee break to the City of Roses, who are no strangers to the power of a good caffeine kick.

The small-batch, dark roasted coffees are expertly blended from the highest quality, 100% Arabica beans for smooth taste and fresh aroma, and available exclusively at Safeway. Choose from Bold Reserve, Coffee Founder’s Blend, Bold French Roast, Ethiopia Sidamo, or Costa Rica Tarrazu. The coffees are available in whole beans, ground and bulk.

Safeway is hitting the streets of Portland October 5th – 7th to give Portlanders the chance to try the coffee for free, as well as passing out coupons and Safeway gift cards.

In conjunction with the Street Team promotion, Safeway will be running a contest all week on Z100, where listeners can enter to win an “Office Coffee Break” each day, provided by Safeway. Here’s the dates and times to find the Safeway Street Teams:

October 6:
7 a.m.-11 a.m., South Park Blocks Park A, City Hall and PAC West Building
Noon-2 p.m., Safeway Store located at 1303 NW Lovejoy Street
3 p.m.-6 p.m., Rec Center at Portland State University – Social Media Party

The breadth of assortment comes in both flavored and non-flavored. The line features five flavors including French Roast, Colombia, Costa Rica, House Blend and Breakfast Blend. Safeway Select will also feature Holiday flavors this fall.

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ABOUT Safeway: Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,694 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $41.1 billion in 2010. The company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

LEI Medical is enjoying new-found expansion and growth thanks to a facility move in October of 2010. Founded in 1993, LEI Medical has consistently improved the safety and quality of veterinary medical equipment, expanding to the point of needing to move their operations into a new, 10,000 square foot building space at this time last year.

CEO and Founder of LEI Medical Brian Lawson knew the company needed to move when their growth exceeded their manufacturing capabilities. Now comfortably housed in double the space they were just a couple of years ago, Lawson says the space, built in 2004, also makes delivery more streamlined and efficient.

“It’s exciting to be celebrating our first year anniversary in this new space,” says Lawson. “The manufacturing facility makes it easier for us to create and test new products and initiate new concepts. It’s really helped us to focus on serving our customers to the best of our ability. The new surroundings have been an inspiration in several exciting ways.”

The new facility includes a dedicated clean room for product assembly and testing, dedicated space for precision manufacturing of LEI parts, inventory management, shipping, customer service and sales. The space allows for two state-of-the-art manufacturing machines that take raw material and cut them to extraordinarily demanding specifics for the high quality, precision products that LEI is known for.

“It’s important to us to keep moving forward,” says Lawson. “We’re always looking at what’s next- what can be done to make our equipment more user friendly, safer for vets and pets, and new technology. This larger space allows us to do all of that and more.”

Lawson goes on to explain that the new, bigger facility has allowed for greater scope of work and focus on new products for the veterinary marketplace. LEI takes pride in the fact that LEI products are 100% American made and assembled in their facility in Oregon.

ABOUT LEI Medical

LEI Medical is a Portland, Oregon based company that produces medical equipment for the veterinary field. Since 1993, LEI Medical has consistently improved the safety and quality of veterinary medical equipment. For the last 18 years, LEI Medical has grown and recently expanded its capabilities with a new leading edge facility. For more information on LEI Medical, please call 877-620-1500 toll free or visit http://www.leimedical.com.
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LEI Medical, http://www.leimedical.com, is celebrating its 18-year record of outstanding safety history. Founded in 1993, LEI Medical has consistently improved the safety and quality of veterinary medical equipment, boasting an exceptional record for both manufacturing and end users of LEI products.

CEO and Founder of LEI Medical Brian Lawson credits the companies success and continued growth to the dedication of its exceptional engineering. The company is devoted to providing high quality equipment exclusively for the veterinary industry.

“We all take our work very seriously,” says Lawson. “Not only do we want the equipment to be safe for the animals, but we want the veterinarians to know that they can count on our equipment to perform for years without incident.”

LEI Medical recently expanded its capabilities with a new, leading edge facility where Lawson and his team are working diligently on innovative technology that they hope to unveil in the near future. The new space has allowed for greater research, engineering, design testing, fulfillment, and customer service. Products from LEI are 100% American made.

“The future is wide-open for us right now,” says Lawson. “We have some products in the works that are true game-changers. I’m excited for what the coming months hold.”

ABOUT LEI Medical

LEI Medical is a Portland, Oregon based company that produces medical equipment for the veterinary field. LEI designs and manufactures high-quality, precision anesthesia machines (stand, wall mounts, tabletops), vaporizers, medical gas, suction and oxygen delivery products. Since 1993, LEI Medical has consistently improved the safety and quality of veterinary medical equipment. For the last 18 years, LEI Medical has grown and recently expanded it's capabilities with a new leading edge facility. For more information on LEI Medical, please call 877-620-1500 toll free or visit http://www.leimedical.com.

ABOUT CEO and Founder Brian Lawson

Brian Lawson started his manufacturing career in Fort Collins Colorado with the Woodward Governor Company working on aerospace and national defense projects. After returning to his home state of Oregon, Lawson started his own manufacturing company focusing on the veterinary medical industry. He gladly supports local animal shelters and has established a scholarship for "excellence in anesthesia" at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

New offerings include SingleTRAK for real-time transportation location and SingleREV revenue share advertising program

Portland, Oregon, September 22, 2011 – SinglePoint unveils two products designed to make the most of real time communication for both passengers and transit agencies and charter companies. The products, titled SingleTRAK and SingleREV, respectively, represent the latest in cutting edge technology and real-time data delivery.

SingleTRAK, powered by TransLōc, provides real-time bus and train location details via the passengers’ web browser or handheld device. Information can also be made available at the station or depot. “TransLōc is excited to work with SinglePoint to give their transit customers access to the latest passenger information tools for their riders,” says Joshua Cohen, TransLōc. “Like Wi-Fi on buses, being able to see where the bus is and when it will arrive is an excellent use of technology to improve the transit experience for riders.”

SingleREV, powered by BluePod Media, is a revolutionary business model for charter companies and transit agencies. SingleREV is an advertising offering that allows SinglePoint to initiate a revenue share program with the company or agency, in exchange for putting advertisements in front of passengers. The solution will intuitively know how to emulate the end-user’s device and deliver the proper screen size and ratio so that the ads are aesthetically pleasing.

“Bluepod Media is delighted to be appointed by SinglePoint as exclusive media marketing partner for their SingleREV proposition,” says Stefan Hohmann, Co-founder, Bluepod Media. “Bluepod Media’s proven, world class location based media serving expertise is the perfect fit to SinglePoint’s technical transit Wi-Fi offering – together we can offer the most comprehensive, value-added Wi-Fi solution to transport companies across the USA.”

SinglePoint adds these new offerings to their suite of services, which currently include rugged Wi-Fi hardware, Wi-Fi analytics software solutions, and GPS tracking software. SinglePoint is the onlycompany of its kind to offer all of these services. In addition, SinglePoint’s customers are able to choose services ala carte from the full suite of SinglePoint products.

“Times are tough for both public transit agencies and private charter companies,” explains SinglePoint VP of Operations Bill Hawkins. “The obvious way to solve this problem is to increase ridership. To increase ridership, you must give the passenger a compelling reason to take the bus. This can only come in the form of added amenities like Wi-Fi and other services. This is where solutions like SingleTRAK and SingleREV help; by providing a valuable service to passengers and a revenue stream back to the transport entity without having to charge the end-user.”

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About SinglePoint Communications

Established in 2007, SinglePoint is North America’s leading distributor of products and services that provide Internet access to the private and public transportation markets, first responders, and commercial fleet operators. SinglePoint seeks out the highest quality equipment and service providers to ensure optimal quality of service to its clientele. For more information visit http://www.your1point.com.

About TransLōc

TransLōc is a next generation passenger information system. It offers riders a safe, comfortable, and convenient wait for the bus and gives transit operators a more efficient, more appreciated transit system. Riders can get real-time bus location and arrival information on the web, mobile phones, native apps for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, SMS text messaging, and at the stop.For more information visit http://www.transloc.com/

About BluePod Media

Bluepod Mediais a world leading location based mobile marketing specialist. Founded in London in early 2007, Bluepod Media has achieved rapid growth with its break through vision of targeting high dwell time leisure, transit and shopping environments and creating a stand-alone mobile media network. Starting with just VUE cinemas, Bluepod Medianow works exclusively with all the major UK cinema multiplexes, along with 5-a-side football centers, bars and pubs, computer game retailers, mobile phone stores and more. Bluepod Media operates in UK, Eurozone and North America, and is currently investigating opportunities in other parts of the world. For more information visit http://www.bluepodmedia.com/

Now doing business as Women’s Healthcare Associates LLC, the newly merged company has nearly 90 clinicians, including obstetrician/gynecologist physician and nurse practitioners, as well as the state’s largest group of certified midwives.

In a news release, Women’s Healthcare Associates cited several benefits to merging:

Patients now have access to the combined expertise of nearly 90 clinicians.

Medical officials who consult with the clinic now have access to a larger pool of expertise.

Patients on Portland’s east side, Oregon City and Canby will now have better access to a wider range of services.

The combined organization has 11 locations throughout the Portland metro area, including four on the west side of Portland and two on the east side of Portland, as well as offices in Tualatin, Newberg, Oregon City, Canby and an administrative office in Beaverton.

The October 1, 2011 merger of Women's Healthcare Associates, LLC, Women's Clinic, PC and Women's Health Center of Oregon, PC represents an integration of the expertise and resources of three trusted women’s healthcare practices with a common mission, shared vision and strongly-held values. As a group, we are committed to setting the highest community standards for obstetric, gynecologic and women’s care with a focus on quality, safety and value. Read frequently asked questions about the merger >

The collaborative approach of Women’s Healthcare Associates assures our patients of the best possible outcomes by combining current science with the caring expertise of leading healthcare professionals. With our growth, more Portland metro-area women and their families will be able to choose complete women’s healthcare services from a single trusted source. The merged group will also offer the largest group of certified nurse midwives in Oregon.

The merger is a natural fit and a continuation of the history, tradition and trust that has existed between our practices and the community for more than 60 years. Our groups each have cultures that foster a family atmosphere, as well as an emphasis on strong relationships with our healthcare industry partners and colleagues; a connection to our communities and the region; and above all, a commitment to quality, excellent patient experiences and the very best outcomes for the women and families we serve.

Perinatologist Mark Tomlinson, MD, MBA of Northwest Perinatal Center, taped a segment yesterday for Channel 12’s "More" Good Day Oregon morning program. The segment will air Friday, September 2nd at 9:00AM and Monday, September 5th on the afternoon program "Better" at 2PM.

Dr. Tomlinson and host Kimberly Maus discussed the future of elective deliveries in the Portland region and throughout the state, specifically the agreement, effective September 1st, made among 17 hospitals to discontinue "early term" elective inductions or c-sections (those performed between 37 and 39 weeks' gestation that are not medically indicated).

Benefit for Oregon Humane Society raises over $12,000 for local nonprofit

PORTLAND, Ore. – The event’s 2011 slogan, “Do it for the puppies,” rang loud and true on the afternoon of Aug. 21, 2011, as five leaders from the Portland-Metro business community (Paul Wagner of Forkfly, Scott Kveton of Urban Airship, Nitin Khanna of MergerTech, Julie Ma of Perkins & Co, and Josh Friedman) hosted the First Annual White Party Portland, a benefit for the Oregon Humane Society (OHS). With over 200 guests donned in their finest “all white attire” in attendance at rontoms lounge, the event raised over $11,500 for the charitable organization – enough money to provide food for all the animals in the OHS’ care for an entire month.

“Choosing the Oregon Humane Society as our beneficiary was easy as the organization is very near and dear to all of our hearts,” said Paul Wagner, host of White Party Portland and CEO at Forkfly. “They do so much to help the local animal community, so we wanted to celebrate their efforts and raise overall awareness toward their programs.”

For over 142 years, the OHS has been sheltering abandoned animals, fighting cruelty and neglect, and working to build a caring and compassionate community in Oregon. The association has thousands of members and 1,500 volunteers, but they are not affiliated with any local or national organization and receive no tax dollars. Their work is made possible only through donations of time, money, goods and services.

“The Oregon Humane Society is honored to have been selected as the beneficiary of this terrific event,” said Rebecca Ramach, special events coordinator at the Oregon Humane Society. “We know our community has plenty of animal lovers that help our programs survive and thrive, so we cannot thank all the guests enough!”

The event, sponsored in part by Forkfly, MergerTech, and Urban Airship, sold over 300 tickets, featured a silent auction with donations totaling over $10,100, and even received a special visit from three, ready-to-be-adopted OHS puppies. The hosts will plan another White Party Portland for summer 2012 that will benefit a different local organization.

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About White Party Portland
The 1st Annual White Party was conceived by five local leaders of the business community to invite local influencers, Portlanders, friends, and charitable supporters to come together for a fun afternoon for a great cause. The party’s mission is two-fold: to toast to summer and for guests to don their finest pre-Labor Day whites as a benefit for a local charitable organization. For more information and photos, please visit http://whitepartyportland.com/.

The new guidelines, which go into effect for health insurance policies dated after August 1, 2012, require coverage of a broad range of preventive health services without a co-pay or deductible. These include well-woman visits; FDA-approved contraception; breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling; screening for HIV and sexually transmitted infections; and domestic violence screening.

"What's exciting about this is that there are so many women out there who have insurance but still can't afford their medication, supplies or screening tests and this removes that last barrier for them," said Dr. Morrison.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Client CoCo Designs had the opportunity to take part in this really fun blog series, "My Dream Home would Have to Have" courtesy of Marcus Design Blog. Guest blogging is a great way to build connections, contacts in your field, and credibility. It's also a great way to build in-bound links to your website (i.e., getting in front of new audiences and potential clients by having them click on your link to your website or blog via another website or blog). PR and Viral Marketing is all about thinking outside the box! Here it is!

Tammy Hernandez joined local Interior Designer Lora Coburn at The Rebuilding Center. Their mission? To help us look at things a little differently! As a designer, Lora can look at old things and see useful fun new pieces for our homes...

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The online, daily deals and offers market is a very competitive one, with major companies like Groupon and LivingSocial--plus countless others--looking to occupy the space. Portland-based Forkfly (www.forkfly.com) is looking to take a different angle on the market, helping to enable local publishers to create their own, deal sites. We spoke with founder Paul Wagner about the company.

First, for folks who haven't used your app, what is Forkfly?
Paul Wagner: For the consumer, it's all about local deals with great local merchants. It's a pretty straight forward play on that end. It get a bit more complex on the other two thirds of the site, for the merchants and the publishers.

What do you offer for them?
Paul Wagner: On the publisher and merchant side, we have integrated a suite of tools to not just manage social couponing, social media, but a whole suite of things to manage the stuff internally. They can manage their digital spend with local publishers, manage print, and more. It's basically a suite of useful applications which they can manage themselves. It stems, in a large part, from our work with publishers. If you've ever read Groupon's financials, you'll see they are spending a half a billion on marketing, and have 5000 salespeople. It's pretty spectacular, really. For us, we realize that our media partners are wanting to stay relevant in both print and digital. They have the feet on the street, and the local trust, so they deploy Forkfly themselves. That allows us to expand not just into major markets, but also provides us with market differentiation from Groupon and LivingSocial, allowing us to gain traction.

Those publishers are mostly newspaper publishers?
Paul Wagner: We work primarily with print, and have seven sites deployed and another twenty deploying. When I'm saying deploying, there are those who aren't showing up on the site until they are ready to go live. We're in talks with another sixty properties, including working with radio and TV stations, who are also interested in deploying the technology. The nice thing about our platform for publishers, is there is one app which works anywhere in the country. You might start using the app in Charleston, South California, with the local city paper. But, if you visit San Francisco, we can also show them deals from that local area, too. In that way, we are helping publishers become a part of a network, because they don't want to be a little island fighting for survival.

How did you settle on this market?
Paul Wagner: We were one of the first coupon apps on the App store. We had originally taken a very traditional approach. I'd owned a restaurant as a side project, and had some frustration with CitySearch, which was about our only digital spend option. I ended up designing the interface, and had it built in Argentina. I flew down there, worked with a local development team, and we deployed it in 2008. I then realized very quickly that building a large team of sales people and selling to local merchants in Portland was wonderful, but there was no way we'd be able to ever expand beyond Portland, because it was too expensive. We had a low price point, and there was just no scalability in the original model. To make a long story short, someone in the publishing space approached me, and told me I had an interesting product, and if I had considered deploying it with newspapers. It was an interesting proposition, so we completely scrapped our code, rebuilt it to not just be a couponing tool for merchants, but also made it a place where businesses could manage their media spend through local publishers. We didn't have to spend on marketing, which was all done by our media partners. We left the sales efforts to our media partners, and focused on developing the technology.

We'd guess that local partners make it easier for you to differentiate?
Paul Wagner: That's exactly right. It's funny, but recently Groupon Now deployed in the Bay Area, and deployed in Portland. I received an email yesterday from Groupon, claiming that they had over 200 Portland deals, which was an outright fabrication. When I went to Groupon Now, I found 30 at most. In Portland alone, we have 195 active deals right now. Plus, consumers don' t have to pay a time to take advantage of our service. They can juts hold up a phone to get the offer. I do think that the more players that get into this space, the better it is for us. Publishers understand they have to go out and do this, or they risk losing everything. So, the more noise the better, it's a good space to be in.

Finally, what's the next big thing for you?
Paul Wagner: We're expanding rapidly, and what we've realizes is that, although the largeer markets are performing very well for us, what fun is working with small, regional publishers. Those are publications with less than 15,000 people in a rural market, which is a horribly underserved market. For us, it's been huge working with those publishing partners in those regions, because the acceptance has been absolutely tremendous. There is no noise from Groupon, LivingSocial, or any other daily deal platform in those markets. Those launches end up wildly successful for us and our publishing partners.

Portland, Ore. - Forkfly today announced the introduction of a new national sales director, Mr. Simon Mulverhill, and sales consultant Mr. Sammy Papert. The announcement comes on the heels of Forkfly's deployment into 20 new markets.

Effective immediately, Mulverhill will lead sales efforts in Forkfly's push to work with media partners in every major market in America. Over the course of the next few months, Forkfly will be making a series of announcements regarding new media partnerships.

Mulverhill is a 15-year veteran of the alternative newsweekly business with advertising sales management and publishing experience. Starting at Illinois Times, in Springfield (IL) as Ad Director in 1994, he was promoted to Publisher in 1997, and while there launched a parenting publication, Springfield Parent. He then headed south as Publisher of the San Antonio Current in summer of 2000. After five years, he moved into the non-profit world, with management positions at Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas, and Kids Sports Network. He returned to the alternative newsweekly world in summer of 2008 as Advertising Director of The Austin Chronicle.

"We are honored to have Simon join our growing team at Forkfly," said Paul Wagner, Forkfly CEO. "Simon's extensive experience will help our current and prospective media partners to feel confident in our abilities to work within their industries."

Forkfly has also engaged the services of sales consultant Sammy Papert. His 15 years of selling tens of millions of dollars of newspaper advertising at the Papert Companies, a national advertising sales organization which represented 500 daily newspapers, will serve Forkfly and customers admirably. Papert served as Chairman and CEO of Belden Associates, the well regarded newspaper research and consultancy for ten years before founding Wormhole, LLC in February of 2009. Wormhole connects organizations to their business and consuming audiences in unique and fast ways by leveraging technology and the web - a perfect fit with Forkfly.

"Sammy's experience brings key insights from both the newspaper and research industries," said Forkfly CMO Stephanie Hooper. "We're looking forward to having both Sammy and Simon on board."

In addition to the most recent market deployments, Forkfly announced they are in active talks with over 60 more. They are projecting 80 by year-end, with more than 200 signed on by year-end 2012.

Forkfly's locational mobile coupon platform offers a wholesale platform for media partners to sell space to merchants in their own local community. Advertisers use Forkfly as a fully integrated measurement dashboard to manage their print, digital and social media buys. The Forkfly business model allows media partners, who get exclusive rights to the Forkfly platform in their DMA, to utilize their own sales team and existing merchant relations.

Forkfly offers a robust social network capability and built in customer loyalty program with smart phone redemption for both Android and iPhone. About Forkfly
Forkfly is a marketing and promotional platform for media partners that benefit customers and merchants. Merchants can leverage social media networks, mobile technologies, and a creative distribution strategy to find new customers, engage customers, and build brand loyalty. Customers use Forkfly to find and redeem deals, perks, rewards, and other incentives from hundreds of merchants "on the fly." For more information, visit www.forkfly.com.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Daily Deal Media re-posted the StartUp Weekly interview with Forkfly CEO Paul Wagner, as well as information about Forkfly and 2 paragraphs from the Forkfly blog (written by yours truly). Check out the press hit here!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Forkfly CEO Paul Wagner had a sit down with tech guru and blogger Rocky Agrawal, an avid tech writer for the blog TechCrunch, one of the most trusted tech sites in the space. Check out the article here

Results of this press hit for Forkfly included:

Record day of 2,938 visits to just Forkfly consumer website. (Typically average about 650 for a normal Monday)

Nearly half of that traffic was referral traffic from the article (1,353)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa made a big announcement about offering Health Coaching as a "treatment" option at both their NW and Airport location! Check out some nice press from the peeps at American Spa Magazine:

Client Forkfly is a deal site that utilizes publishers to sign on merchants in their own town, and pass on local deals to end users. Deals can be redeemed via Android or iPhone- it's some pretty cool stuff! Our first press hit came in the form of an interview on StartUp Weekly, with a text interview plus video. Check it out!

Forkfly has been providing its members with ongoing merchant deals via social media since 2009. According to Paul Wagner, Forkfly’s CEO/Founder, “The ongoing Forkfly deals will continue – we are just adding Superfly deals exclusively to participating Forkfly merchants, which will help them build loyalty and engagement.”

Forkfly offers participating merchants the benefits of bringing in new customers while building loyalty with their existing customer base through rewards. Due to the unique nature of these deals, participating Superfly merchants see an increase in new, loyal customers almost immediately.

“The Superfly deals essentially provide local merchants with a form of risk-free advertising,” says Stephanie Hooper, Chief Marketing Officer at Forkfly.“Portland retailerswill benefit from the ‘buzz factor’ associated with exclusive, limited-time deals.” Merchants can set a maximum number of Superfly customer redemptions that can be sold within the 24-hour deal offer. Superfly merchants receive a payout check within three business days of the promotion date.

In addition to visibility through Forkfly’s expansive member network, Superfly deals will be promoted via targeted online advertising on Google, Facebook and other popular websites. A percentage of revenue from every Superfly deal will go to local non-profit organizations.

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About Forkfly

Forkfly is an innovative marketing and promotional platform that benefits customers and merchants. Merchants can leverage social media networks, mobile technologies, and a creative distribution strategy to find new customers, engage current customers, and build brand loyalty. Customers use Forkfly to find and redeem deals, perks, rewards, and other incentives from hundreds of merchants "on the fly." Superfly, the daily deal offer, provides high value deals for restaurants, spas, shops, events, tours, and more, while bringing unprecedented attention and business to the featured merchant. For more information, visit www.forkfly.com.

With chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes taking a choking hold on American society, the new concept of the health coach is about proactive lifestyle changes as opposed to reactive. The Dragontree Spa, long known in the community as a place of holistic health, is embracing this idea by offering health coaching as a treatment to clients.

“Through education and encouragement, participants can take a proactive role in getting and staying healthy,” explains Dragontree owner Briana Borten.

Participants meet every other week for one hour and can choose between a three or six month program, with an option to extend indefinitely. The sessions include discussions of goals, progress, recommendations, and resources such as books, recipes and cooking classes. An optional grocery store tour is available, as well as free invitations to all events, lectures and workshops offered at The Dragontree.

“The three-month option is for those who already have some knowledge of healthy eating and lifestyle but need extra support to move past blocks,” says Health Coach Heather Wade. “As a wellness authority and supportive mentor, I want to motivate individuals to cultivate positive health choices.”

“The six-month option is targeted for those who know that change is needed but are overwhelmed and unsure of where or how to begin,” explains Health Coach Kelly Hirstein. “It takes time to integrate new habits and we can work at a pace that helps make those changes sustainable.”

This program is about more than just diet; it is aimed at creating a better quality of life. The program is designed to assess the areas of a participant’s life that are out of balance and work with them to make progress to nourish those needs.

The Dragontree Health Coaches fully support the recommendations given by doctors and any medical professionals. Their main goal is to provide participants with the practical knowledge and resources to participate in creating and maintaining a foundation of high quality health throughout life.

About The Dragontree:

The Dragontree, located at 2768 NW Thurman and in the Portland International Airport on Concourse C, offers a variety of services to still the mind and mend the body. The perfect place to receive massages, facials, Acupuncture, waxing, Ayurvedic counseling, and herbal consultations, you can also gather with friends and family and receive foot treatments, head, neck, & shoulder massages, and hand treatments. For more information please visit www.thedragontree.com.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Portland, OR-based The Dragontree Day Spa celebrated the first anniversary of its Portland International Airport location in February. The spa celebrated the milestone by offering food, beverages and mini treatments to airport staff on February 23, as well as free massages and product samples for passengers before they went through security during the same time period. 503-331-1131

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I don't typically blog on my blog spot account. I tend to reserve this blog for mentioning my public relation's clients happenings, press hits and Examiner articles. But, I'd love to start blogging more about every day occurrences in my life and in the life of MKP Creative.

This afternoon, during my lunch hour, I braved the Portland spring of "Rain-sleet-Sun! Rain-wind-downpour-Sun!" and did a quick 30 minute run jog along the water front. After almost tripping over a dog whose owner had one of those leashes that lets the dog run 10 feet away from them, I continued on through the down pour that then gave way to sunshine, doing wonders for my naturally frizzy hair. Feeling a bit damp but otherwise satisfied that looks would not matter when I got back to the office, since I have no afternoon meetings and work all alone in my little office, I continued on at a steady pace.

I heard slapping on the pavement behind me and was suddenly passed in a whoosh by a lean guy running barefoot. I love Portland because people are not afraid to run barefoot, downtown, because they are a believer in the barefoot running movement. I also love that I also saw another guy running barefoot about 10 minutes later, splashing along in the mud beside the side walk- and they were not running together. Just two separate, barefoot running guys.

Dodging a seagull sitting up on the light post, a couple of pigeons, the harmless homeless brigade under the bridge and serious bikers along the waterfront adds excitement and some adrenaline to my runs. Now back at my desk, with a brilliant sun shine filled afternoon, I'm gazing out at the Broadway Bridge happy I got out and moved my body, and happy to be a Portlander.

"I'd been there 10 years and saw the signs," she said. "I was the one who shut down the classified department, got rid of the web editor and demoted the receptionist."

In June, it was McKeown's turn: She was laid off as general manager of Willamette Week, a Portland alternative newspaper.

As the divorced mother of two boys -- Thilo, 7, and Cian, 5 -- she needed to find something else.

After months of planning, she opened a business, Oui Presse coffee shop on Portland's Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard. Now she maintains a complicated schedule of caring for her sons and running a shop that faces competition from not only national chains such as Starbucks but other independent shops with loyal followings.

On good days, when the till shows the shop broke even or better, McKeown is elated. On bad days, she steels her resolve and fights back the fear that she made a mistake.

Her story is a familiar one, playing out in various forms across a metro area with a jobless rate that has hovered above 10 percent for more than a year. Local groups that work with budding entrepreneurs note a significant uptick in the number of people seeking to open a business. While some have always dreamed of being self-employed, many, such as McKeown, are starting businesses out of necessity.

McKeown, 43, seeded her shop with a small severance package from the paper, money from her retirement savings and three credit cards. In October, she signed a lease on a storefront at 1740 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., a space where a cafe and later a clothing store had failed.

Two days before Christmas, she opened her doors.

"It's terrifying," she said. "Failure isn't an option."

McKeown started a blog to chart her progress and build a following. She tried to borrow money from several banks, including the one that holds her mortgage. But with no paycheck, they all said no.

"What's changed in the past couple years is that we're seeing people who've been working for a company for years and then they lost a job," said Scott Onder, the Portland organization's fund development and strategy coordinator. "It's a tough job market, and the only alternative is to become self-employed."

MercyCorps gets 20 applications a month and approves four, he said. Since the program began nine years ago, the organization has issued just over 200 loans totaling $2.3 million. Now demand is so high, the agency is working with banks to get more money to loan.

"We've funded some businesses that you wouldn't think would make it," he said. "Craftsmen that sell jewelry. We've helped florists and photographers. What we look at is potential cash flow to make sure there's enough profit to make loan payments on a monthly basis."

McKeown was approved for a $20,000 loan, with a 12 percent interest rate. She opted instead to sign up for two more credit cards, which offered zero interest for the first year.

In 2008, Palmer had what she thought was a secure job as a marketing manager at a Portland company. She and her husband had just bought a house when they took their newborn to visit relatives in Ohio for Thanksgiving.

"Just before dinner, I signed onto the computer to check my e-mail," Palmer said. "My boss had sent a note to everyone that they were selling our desks on eBay. That's how I got the news I was being laid off."

She applied for jobs throughout the city but found nothing.

"I had no choice but to start my own business," she said. "I started calling businesses around town and asked if they'd laid off their marketing person. I proposed they hire me month to month. I incorporated in June. I'm making triple what I made when I worked for someone else.

"But it's scary when a client quits," she said. "I have to get another client. That's business."

We've been working our buns off over here at Oui Presse HQ, so there hasn't been much time to update the blog with progress photos. Here's what the store looks like now, on the eve of its debut. -- Oui Presse blog, Dec. 22

Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon, a Lake Oswego-based group, has watched membership grow from 25 in 2005 to more than 80, President Briana Borten said.

"You have to be passionate about running a business," she said. "You may love making jewelry, but the business is about making contacts, keeping books and employing people. Most businesses fail within the first three years. People don't plan for all the bad times. They plan for the way they hope it goes."

Borten, 30, started her business, The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa, when she was 22 after her boss at another spa told her that if she had so many great ideas, she should launch her own place.

Borten got a business partner, whose family loaned them money. Her boyfriend let her use his credit card.

"That's real love," said Borten, who now has two Portland spas and 60 employees. "We got married."

McKeown had no deep pockets to turn to as costs mounted: $11,000 for an espresso machine and $1,500 for a coffee grinder. She also had to buy a refrigerator, convection oven and sink. Recently, she added a freezer.

She hired a contractor for plumbing and electrical work but had friends help her rip out carpet and walls, and haul old tiles to the dump. Even so, she spent $55,000 to get started.

"When you add it up, it's the cost of a couple cars," she said. "But a car won't make me money. I have to make the investment in this business."

We hung our Stumptown sign from the ceiling using 30 lb monofilament today. Now we have the prettiest espresso machine AND the prettiest sign in town. -- Oui Presse blog, Dec. 31, under the heading "Too Legit to Quit"

McKeown's life can be a blur of business and child care. On weekdays, she dresses and feeds her sons, then sends them off to school, one on a school bus, the other with a neighborhood mom. She drives to a bakery in Northwest Portland to pick up pastries, then heads to her shop, usually arriving by 8:30 a.m.

About 3 p.m., she walks son Cian and other kids home from kindergarten and waits for the bus to deliver Thilo. Then her ex-husband picks up the boys, and she heads back to the shop until it closes at 6 p.m. Then it's back to parenting duties. Every other weekend, the boys stay with her ex-husband. On her weekends, she frequently brings them to work.

She has three part-time employees at her industrial-looking space, including Dan Winters, 27. She arrived one recent morning to find him in the shop alone. Business had been slow since the 7 a.m. opening, he said.

The two commiserated, with McKeown saying she drew a little comfort from noticing on her drive in that other coffee shops were empty, too.

Winters was a colleague at Willamette Week before being demoted and eventually leaving amid cutbacks. He has since returned to the paper to work on a project, and works at Oui Presse 20 hours a week.

"The extra money is nice," he said. "But I like being able to help her out. Shawna has become one of my best friends."

Within the hour, customers were flowing in as McKeown worked around the store -- installing a bathroom mirror, wrapping an overhead pipe with insulation and looking over her magazine rack. She stocks a variety of titles, plus gift items, to set her shop apart and add revenue. She eventually hopes to offer 150 periodicals, including hard-to-find titles from Europe.

When the shop emptied again, McKeown relaxed for a moment behind the counter.

"If I can manage my cash and stay ahead of the game for a year, I'll be OK," she said. In the meantime, she's learning that running her own shop is an around-the-clock endeavor.

"I think about this place all the time," McKeown said. "When I fall asleep, when I'm driving. I worry that lower Hawthorne doesn't have a lot of foot traffic. But then I realize it has easy parking. The scary part is when people don't come in. But I tell myself they will."

She needs $400 a day to break even, and so far, her best day brought in $476. Going over her books, she realized she took in just $168 on a recent Monday.

"I panicked," she said. "But I have to manage the fear. I have to cope. Each day a few more people come in, and I'm getting some regulars. I can't get discouraged. I have to remind myself that I'm laying the foundation for my future."

The Dragontree plans to celebrate this milestone by offering free food, beverages, and mini treatments to PDX staff on February 23rd from 12:30- 3:30pm at the spa, and free massages and product samples for everyone pre-security during the same time.

The spa, located on Concourse C between gates C-10 and C-12, has an established history of providing exceptional therapeutic services, commitment to being a sanctuary from the stresses of life, and dedication to reflecting Portland's values of ecological consciousness and sustainability practices.

“The Dragontree Spa has been a fabulous addition to the passenger service offerings at PDX,” says Chris Madsen, general manager of business and properties with the Port of Portland. “Travelers truly appreciate the tranquil atmosphere and extensive listing of services offered, and it’s a great way for them to unwind and relax before a flight.”

There are private treatment rooms for massages, facials and waxing as well as an ambient communal space with elevated couches for therapeutic foot baths, head, neck and shoulder massages, chair massages and a variety of foot treatments.

“We are dedicated to providing quality items that will support people in their journey toward balance,” says spa owner Briana Borten. “We are very pleased with the growth in profit we have seen since opening a year ago. We have exceeded our projections by an average of 25% every month in the first year. We hope that as people get accustomed to making it a part of their travel routine, we will see that growth continue,” adds Borten.

Lots of tension eased. Many muscles relaxed. For the past year, since The Dragontree spa’s facility opened on Concourse C, travelers and employees have taken advantage of the skilled staff and soothing ambiance. As the spa’s ad says, “You have 30 minutes; we have peace. Let’s trade.”
To mark the anniversary, The Dragontree is offering free mini-treatments and free product samples to PDX employees from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 23, both at the Concourse C location and at the Clock Tower in the Oregon Market.

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